This is fast becoming a very deep hole for the Raiders with Thursday night's loss to South Sydney the club's fifth in six matches.
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Poor defence, and a stretch of rotten luck with injury and refereeing is quickly derailing a season which started with so much promise.
Stuart's injury list includes captains Josh Hodgson and Jarrod Croker, out with a calf and shoulder respectively, halfback George Williams, who hurt his hamstring in the warm up and didn't play and fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, still up to two months off returning from a neck injury.
Sebastian Kris went down with a lower leg injury in the second half, and while playing on, will no doubt be assessed in coming days.
Josh Papalii is horribly out of form, and several more forwards will be disappointed with their recent output.
Stuart's men can't take a trick with the officials at the moment either. Jack Wighton had two tries taken off him in the last seven minutes by the Bunker with Emre Guler and then Corey Harawira-Naera both adjudged to have impeded Rabbitohs defenders.
This is unfamiliar territory for Stuart's Raiders in recent times, and it threatens to get worse before it gets better.
Souths lethal out left
Bailey Simonsson, Curtis Scott and Caleb Aekins will be having nightmares all weekend about the ever-dangerous left side of the Rabbitohs' backline.
Wayne Bennett's men kept spinning the ball out to the left, and why wouldn't you when a typical sequence might include Benji Marshall, to Cody Walker, to Dane Gagai to Alex Johnston.
Poor old Simonsson kept getting caught infield, and Souths took full advantage. Midway through the second half, he actually switched to the other side of the field and Jordan Rapana was thrown over to the right wing.
Marshall's inclusion in the starting side has forced Bennett to redeploy Walker at fullback and he's been arguably in the form of his life.
Sometimes the New Zealand veteran cuts out everyone when he passes, which did the trick for Johnston's first try. Occasionally Walker gets involved, hitting the ball at speed, turning defenders inside out and dishing it off to Gagai or Johnston.
Souths have won seven straight now and next week's clash with the Melbourne Storm is shaping as an absolute blockbuster.
Major reshuffle
George Williams' late withdrawal cost the Raiders more than just their halfback - it forced Ricky Stuart to completely reshuffle kicking duties in his team.
Williams was set to deputise as goalkicker for Jarrod Croker, who missed the South Sydney clash with a shoulder injury, but third stringer Jordan Rapana had to pick up the slack instead.
With no Williams, Jack Wighton took on all of the field kicking, and caused the Rabbitohs' back three a few problems with his towering bombs.
Meanwhile, Corey Harawira-Naera assumed kicking off duties, which is usually handled by Josh Hodgson.
Captain Elliott
Elliot Whitehead's name is usually the first written down by Stuart when picking the team each week. With no Hodgson or Croker, Whitehead now also takes on captaincy duties.
Williams' injury forced Stuart to shift Whitehead into the halves, after he'd been forced to play plenty of centre in recent weeks.
A back rower by trade, Whitehead handled his latest assignment with aplomb, and he was rewarded with a barnstorming first-half try.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
